Technology

02.06.2016 Brexit / Technology

Social media and alternative versions of political reality

“Social media is overhyped” a friend said to me in a social setting yesterday. “Look at the Arab Spring – it failed!” I agree with the latter part – what happened at Tahrir Square (and how people came to the

08.05.2016 Technology

Moved to another country? Here’s the simple way to restore your Mac apps from the Apple App Store

My MacBook needed a bit of a spring clean, so I decided to wipe it, reinstall Mac OS, and then re-install all my apps. Rather than just restoring apps from a backup I wanted fresh installations of all of them

04.05.2016 Technology

re-publica is broken, but I hope not beyond repair

The German tech and politics conference re-publica has been going a decade now, and the tenth edition (in its third and final day today as I write this) is supposed to be about reflection. I’ve been to eight editions of

17.03.2016 Technology

Contributor to the book “Geschlossene Gesellschaften?”

I wrote a chapter of the book Geschlossene Gesellschaften? Beteiligungsprozesse, Medien und Öffentlichkeiten in Europa, Limburg & Grätz (eds), published by Deutsche Welle, ifa and Steidl – my chapter is entitled Europa im Internet: Unerfüllte Hoffnungen, vorsichtiger Optimismus. The contents

08.10.2015 EU Politics / Technology

Commissioners on Twitter – countering the critique

So, having taken apart the behaviour of European Commissioners on Twitter earlier this week, the critique has poured in – most of it to me personally in private, and some of it on Twitter. In this blog entry I am

06.10.2015 EU Politics / Technology

European Commissioners seem to have missed the social aspect of Twitter and use it for one way, bland PR instead

In Gartner’s hype cycle, users of a technology encounter a trough of disillusionment after the initial peak of inflated expectations. The use of Twitter by the 28 Members of the European Commission (Twitter list here) feels like being in such

01.10.2015 Technology

How to win a Quadriga Digital Communication Award

I have been a jury member for Quadriga’s Digital Communication Awards in 2014 and 2015 and, prompted by fellow jury member Aurélie’s post about this year’s awards, here are a few thoughts about the awards this year, and what projects

27.09.2015 Technology

The simple guide to installing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on a Mac

I’ve been experimenting with running Linux on Macs for some time and – for a variety of reasons – needed to make a clean install of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on my early 2008 24″ iMac. The Mac is now on

22.08.2015 Technology

How to choose a 4G/LTE data plan for a smartphone in Germany

My old 3G mobile is on its last legs, so I am investigating how to upgrade to a 4G/LTE phone, and hence will need an accompanying data plan. A blog about my handset choice will follow – this blog entry